Mucking About
by TheStationmaster
Summary: Thomas tries to avoid Max and Monty, but Max and Monty soon cause trouble for Thomas.


**Another Thomas rewrite, this time it's "Mucking About" from Season 20. Enjoy and please review.**

Max, the dump truck, loves to race Thomas along the road, while Thomas races down the track.

Sometimes, Monty, Max's twin, joins in on the races.

Max and Monty are often mischievous, and cause confusion and delay, but Thomas think that they are fun... most of the time.

One day, Max and Monty were working with Oliver, Alfie, and Jack on a digging site on Thomas's branch line.

They had been asked to take all the used dirt to the dump.

However, they were all mucking about.

"That's enough now." said Oliver.

Then, Max and Monty heard a whistle.

"It's Thomas!" called Max.

Max and Monty raced to see Thomas.

"Come back here!" shouted Alfie.

But it was too late.

Max and Monty raced on the road along Thomas's track.

"Let's have some fun!" they exclaimed.

They began racing on and off the track.

"Watch out!" called Thomas. "That's dangerous!"

But Max and Monty weren't listening.

Later, Thomas stopped at the water-tower.

Edward was there.

"Max and Monty are fun sometimes, but today, they were racing on and off the track! That ain't safe." Thomas told Edward.

"I find the best way to get along with Max and Monty is to ignore them altogether." replied Edward as he puffed away.

Thomas was surprised to hear what Edward had said.

"Don't answer them back!" called Edward.

Thomas now knew what he had to do... ignore Max and Monty altogether.

But ignoring Max and Monty was harder than Thomas thought.

"Let's have another race." called Max, "just to the next junction!"

Thomas tried his hardest to ignore Max and Monty.

"You're not number 1!" teased Monty. "We are!"

Then, there was trouble. A mother duck and her ducklings were walking down the street.

Max and Monty swerved onto an old road.

Thomas then came to a crossing.

However, Max and Monty came roaring past the crossing at warp speed.

"Looks like you aren't number 1 anymore!" called Max.

"And there's two of us, so that means you're number... 3!" added in Monty.

"That was dangerous!" thought Thomas. "They shouldn't be passing the crossing when trains are approaching! I'm not going to get involved with those two troublemakers anymore!"

Thomas then puffed away.

Back at the construction site, Max and Monty were still showing off.

Then, it happened. Monty ran over a rock, which hit Oliver, causing him to nearly tip over!

In addition, Oliver's front loader had stopped operating, and he couldn't be really useful anymore.

"Oops." said Monty. "My bad."

"Sorry Oliver." said Max.

Thomas soon arrived to take Oliver to be repaired.

Thomas was crosser than ever at Max and Monty.

"I'll be back soon!" called Oliver. "Please be really useful and work hard while I am away!"

"Yes sir!" cried Max and Monty.

Thomas puffed away.

Max and Monty were going to take the used dirt to the dump.

"What's the holdup?" asked Monty.

"The dump is a long ways away." said Max.

"So let's get going!"

"Or..."

"We can just dump it over this wall!"

"Exactly! That will save a lot of time!"

"And we'll be really useful!" said Max and Monty.

So they dumped all the dirt over the bridge.

When they returned to the construction yards, everyone was surprised to see how quick it took Max and Monty.

"That was quick!" said Jack.

"Just doing our job, as fast as we can." said Max.

"On the double." added in Monty.

Jack went away, and Max and Monty laughed.

Later, they did the same exact thing they did early on, dumped more dirt over the bridge.

What they didn't know though, was that all the dirt was blocking the railway tracks.

Oliver was soon repaired, and Thomas was taking him back to the construction yards.

"I hope Max and Monty are working hard." said Oliver to Thomas. "They may be silly sometimes, but they still work really hard."

"Thanks for telling me that." replied Thomas.

Then, Thomas saw the dirt blocking the tracks.

The driver applied the brakes, but it was too late! Thomas smashed into the dirt, and came off the rails!

Max and Monty had actually caused an accident, and they were the ones to blame.

It was getting late, and everyone at the construction yard was getting worried.

"Where is Thomas and Oliver?" wondered Jack.

"They were supposed to be back ages ago." said Alfie with concern.

"We can't do anything without him." said Jack.

Everyone was hoping that Thomas and Oliver were alright.

Help soon arrived for Thomas, and Oliver soon got to work clearing the track.

Jerome and Judy was able to place Thomas back onto the tracks.

However, it was still a mystery on who placed the dirt on Thomas's branch line.

Even Sir Topham Hatt, who had arrived with a policeman, was puzzled.

Then, the truth was revealed.

Max and Monty were caught dumping even more dirt onto Thomas's track.

The policeman went over to Max and Monty.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Max and Monty! You two have caused a great deal of confusion and delay to the construction yards, and the railway!"

"Sorry officer." sighed Max.

"You must always dispose of used building material, like dirt, in a proper place! I expect you to take the dirt to the dump immediately!"

"Yes sir." said Max and Monty sadly.

"And please no more mucking about!" shouted the policeman.

Later, Thomas went to see Max and Monty.

"We're sorry Thomas." said Max.

"We didn't mean to cause an accident." said Monty. "We wanted to get the job done quickly."

"A bit too quickly." replied Thomas. "I won't be racing with you two anymore.

Thomas then set off back to Tidmouth Sheds, and Max and Monty set off towards the dump, racing each-other in the process!


End file.
